Support for Windows Phone 8 and 7.8 Ending Summer 2014

According to a Microsoft document, mainstream support for Windows Phone 7.8 and Windows Phone 8 will end July 8, 2014.

Web site Engadgetreported on a short Microsoft support document listing the end-of-support date on Monday morning. The document also indicates that support for Windows Phone 7.8, the update for Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 devices which were not upgradeable to the latest version of the platform, will end Sept. 9, 2014.

Each platform has an 18-month mainstream support period, according to the Microsoft document. For Windows Phone 8, that period began on Dec. 14, though the platform itself launched in late October. For Windows Phone 7.8, that 18-month period began on Feb. 9 -- roughly a week after Microsoft first announced it was rolling out the update to Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 users.

Windows Phone 7.8 is aimed at users of older Windows Phone devices, which cannot be upgraded to Windows Phone 8 due to the new platform's higher hardware requirements. However, Windows Phone 8 is expected to have an upgrade path to the next platform version. During last month's Mobile World Congress event, Microsoft Senior Marketing Manager Greg Sullivan told PCMag.com that Windows Phone 8 has "an architecture that enables portability and is fundamentally hardware independent," allowing the devices to adapt to different hardware requirements.

The next release of Windows Phone is rumored to be code-named "Blue," coinciding with the multiple-product update wave Microsoft is reportedly planning to release this year. A recent Microsoft job posting suggests that the next major Windows Phone update will be released around this year's holiday season.